Executive Function Strategies Blog

Editor's note: This week, we feature guest blogger Dr. Ellen Braaten, associate director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital. This is part two of her series on slow processing speed. Read her full bio below.

Building good habits involves repetition. Lots of it. There’s no easy shortcut, much as we may want a quick fix to anything we are trying to improve: healthful eating, fewer Netflix binges, clutter-free countertops. The same applies to our students. They may want to procrastinate less, get to class on time, or keep their desks organized, but the uncomfortable truth is that making those changes is, well, uncomfortable.

The school bus door closes on another academic year and your child’s report card and teachers’ comments are in hand. Before they get swept aside under bills and junk mail (or before they are neatly filed away), now is the perfect time to carve out some quiet 1:1 time with your child to reflect on his or her academic performance in the past 9+ months of school. In academic coaching, reflection is part of our toolbox to help students become more effective learners.